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You are here: Home / UrbanGrowth, SMDA & RWA Plans & Activities / Eveleigh Rail Heritage / The Blacksmiths & The Technology Park

The Blacksmiths & The Technology Park

When the Technology Park was established its Development Approval detailed the requirement for the preservation of many aspects of Eveleigh's technology and equipment including the active heritage use of the Blacksmith shop and other heritage equipment. While some of the machines mentioned in the approval have been retained others sit outside deteriorating or have never been maintained as required. Funds received for heritage preservation and presentation were never expended. Implementing the Heritage Conservation Plan for the Technology Park could create additional heritage attractions within Eveleigh. Here we have some information on what could happen on the ATP part of the site.
ATP Blacksmith
As has been shown by the attendance at the Open Day to save the Operational Heritage Blacksmith in the Australian Technology Park, there is substantial interest in this site which preserves former Eveleigh rail yard equipment and operational skills. Having fought to preserve an operating Blacksmith the challenge is to turn this area into an important attraction within Eveleigh. You can read more about the Blacksmith and the Campaign to save this operation here on the ATP part of the website.
Background to ATP Heritage Issues
This background on the ATP heritage issues was presented to the Eveleigh heritage meeting on 28th October 2008 by Wrought Artworks. It outlines the history of the blacksmith and the failure of the government to impliment the Conservation Management Plan which was supposed to "protect its cultural significance, continue its useful life and contribute to the activities of Eveleigh as both an engineering and educational resource".
ATP Heritage Issues to be Addressed
Following are dot points on turning the tables on the lack of or incorrect conservation approaches & practices in and around the Locomotive Workshop building & The Large Erecting Shop and some ideas on how to achieve an Industrial Heritage experience for visitors. This is part of the "Operation Turn-table" presentation by Wrought Artworks (WAW) at the October 2008 Eveleigh heritage meeting.
File ATP Heritage Destruction by Neglect
The Conservation Management Plan in June 1996 provided a catalogue of all the significant heritage items (over 200). It detailed their significance, current condition and detailed a conservation policy and maintainence schedule for each item. The Technology Park was given a heritage grant to implement the the CMP but did not undertake the required work. This document from 2000 compared the Conservation Management Plan recommendations with the state of some of the equipment that had been moved outdoors and was being destroyed by neglect. The only change to date for some of the out door equipment has been that some of the items have been moved further away from where they should be to make way for the new Channel 7 building. A commitment to preserving and appropriatly presenting the items in the CMP would provide a significant heritage attraction at Eveleigh. (PDF Scan 2.2MB).
Leasing ATP – Heritage Lost?
In its recent mini-budget, the NSW Government announced its plans to privatise the Australian Technology Park (ATP) – 13.9 hectares of industrial space within cooee of the city centre reports Benjamin Ball in the South Sydney Herald of December 2008.
Eveleigh's Still Hidden Heritage
Some of the finest historic railway engineering workshops in the world are located just south of Sydney's Central Railway Station adjoining Redfern Railway Station (originally called Eveleigh) writes Graham Quint of National Trust NSW in the February 2009 issue of Trust News Australia.
Image Wheel press and jib crane dismantled and deteriorating, 2008. Guido Gouverneur
Australian rail heritage ‘travesty’
The Australian Technology Park is trying to dispose of a collection of rare and unique heritage machines that former workers at the Eveleigh rail yards were promised would be preserved reports Robert Burton-Bradley in Central on 2 December 2009.
Concern over future of heritage railway machinery
Heritage-listed Victorian-era railway equipment is to be disposed of prior to the State Government’s sale of Australian Technology Park, according to a community group writes Gareth Narunsky in City News on 3 December 2009.
Heritage Update - 4 December 2009
In this Heritage Update: RWA Heritage Taskforce Established / ATP Conservation Management Plan (CMP) Consultation – 7th December 2009 / ATP S170 Heritage Register Overview Report & Moveable Heritage at ATP / ATP - Channel 7 Building Community Information Meeting - Tuesday 15th December 6-8pm
File Australian Technology Park - Conservation Management Plan - Consultation Feedback Form
Australian Technology Park (ATP) has commissioned Godden Mackay Logan, heritage consultants, to prepare a new Conservation Management Plan for the ATP site. This provides an opportunity for stakeholders, interested parties and local community members to reflect on the significance of the former Eveleigh locomotive workshops and the changes that have occurred to the ATP site over the past 20 years. Godden Mackay Logan have requested feedback on what should be included in the CMP and to assist this they have produced the attached feedback form. Feedback is requested ASAP but will be taken into January 2010. File is 302 PDF.
ATP - CMP Consultation Feedback from Wrought Artworks
As part of the revision on the ATP CMP Godden McKay Logan have requested community input. Below is the input provided by Wrought Artworks to the CMP. Wropught Artworks are happy to share their comments with the community to encourage community discussion and further submissions on the CMP.
Heritage Update - 28 January 2010
In this Heritage Update: Redfern Waterloo Heritage Taskforce (RWHT) – Terms of Reference / Redfern Waterloo Heritage Taskforce (RWHT) Call for Projects / ATP Conservation Management Plan (CMP) Input / ATP S170 Heritage Register Overview Report & Moveable Heritage at ATP. This is an update was prepared for railway heritage people by Geoff Turnbull but is equally relevant to local residents concerned about heritage.
Heritage works begin at ATP - April 2010
In the following extract from ATP News of 7 April 2010, ATPPML advised details of the heritage plans for Innovation Plaza, Bays 1 & 2 and Heritage Lighting around the ATP.
Smiths want rare bays to forge on
British artist blacksmith Jake James has worked all over the world, but the seven-hundredweight Massey power hammer at the Eveleigh locomotive blacksmithing bay in Sydney's Redfern was the biggest he had ever used writes Julie Power in the Sydney Morning Herald of July 25, 2013.